margherita pizza recipe with step by step photos – sharing the easy and very delicious classic margherita pizza.
margherita pizza is one of our favorite pizzas. its simple and yet tastes so good and also easy to prepare. you can read more on margherita pizza on this wikipedia link.
i have used whole wheat pizza dough which i had shared earlier to make this pizza. you can also make this pizza with a no yeast pizza dough which i had posted some days back. or use your favourite pizza dough.
do use good quality pizza sauce or passata. i have used homemade pizza sauce for this pizza. the recipe is very easy if you have pizza dough and the sauce ready.
usually i make the tomato sauce and the pizza dough a day before and refrigerate them. the next day only the assembling and baking is done and it is easy. from this recipe, you will get 7 thin crust pizzas of 9 inches each. there are no veggie toppings on this pizza. optionally you can add some tomato slices if you prefer. you can also check this thin crust pizza recipe where you can add your choice of veggies.
mentioning some links for the pizza dough and sauce. you can choose any of the doughs given below to make this pizza:
- whole wheat pizza dough (yeast is used)
- no yeast pizza dough (made with all purpose flour or maida)
- classic pizza dough made with all purpose flour (maida) and yeast.
- pizza sauce
margherita pizza recipe
INGREDIENTS FOR margherita pizza recipe
for margherita pizza dough
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (atta) OR 360 grams whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast OR 3 grams of instant yeast - (check notes section if using dry active yeast or fresh yeast)
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup water - you can also add 1.25 cups water OR add as required depending upon the quality of wheat flour
toppings for margherita pizza
- ½ cup passata or pizza sauce or marinara sauce
- mozzarella cheese as required
- vegetarian parmesan cheese as required (OPTIONAL)
- 5 to 6 basil leaves or add as required, optional
- dried oregano as required (OPTIONAL)
- red chili flakes as required (OPTIONAL)
HOW TO MAKE margherita pizza recipe
making margherita pizza dough
- take 1 teaspoon instant yeast (3 grams), ½ teaspoon sugar, 1 cup water in a mixing bowl or in the stand mixer bowl. mix well.
- next add 3 cups whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
- attach the bowl to a stand mixer with the hook attachment. on a medium-high speed knead the dough. if kneading with hands, then mix everything very well and then knead for atleast 8 to 10 minutes.
- the dough should be smooth, pliable and soft. if the dough looks dry, then you can add some water while kneading. if the dough looks sticky, then you can sprinkle some flour. depending on the quality of flour, you will need to add less or more water.
- spread some water all over the dough.
- cover with a lid or a kitchen towel and allow to leaven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or till the dough increases in volume and doubles up.
- knead the dough lightly again and then you can directly make pizzas from these. or you can keep them covered in a tight box or pan. spread some olive oil all over the dough before placing them in the box.
making margherita pizza
- grease a 9 inch pan or tray with some extra virgin olive oil. sprinkle some flour all over. you can even use cornmeal or semolina for sprinkling.
- take a medium to large ball and sprinkle some flour on the dough.
- roll to a thin pizza having 0.3 to 0.5 cm thickness.
- carefully lift and place the pizza in the greased baking pan or tray.
- spread pizza sauce or passata. i have used homemade pizza sauce.
- add some grated vegetarian parmesan cheese. if you do not have parmesan cheese, then skip this step.
- now top with mozzarella cheese or pizza cheese.
- keep the pizza pan on the lower rack near the bottom heating element. this helps the margherita pizza to get a nice crisp and crusty base. only use the bottom heating element in the oven. also keep your oven’s highest temp. my oven has 250 degrees celsius as the highest.
- bake margherita pizza for 10 to 15 minutes till the base gets golden and the cheese also melts.
- top margherita pizza with some torn fresh basil leaves.
- you can also add dried oregano or red chili flakes if you want. you can also drizzle some extra virgin olive on the margherita pizza before serving.
- cut with a pizza cutter or knife and serve margherita pizza.
RECIPE TIPS
- proof dry active yeast or fresh yeast in 1 cup warm water and ½ teaspoon sugar solution for 10 to 15 minutes or till the mixture froths and bubbles. then mix with rest of ingredients and knead.
- use good quality dry active yeast and do make sure that the water is neither on the cooler side or hot. it should be warm.
- the time taken to leaven will depend on the temperature conditions in your city. so you can keep the dough for 2 to 3 hours or more if required. (depends on the temperature conditions in your city).
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast = 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast = 3 teaspoons fresh yeast
how to make margherita pizza
1. take 1 teaspoon instant yeast (3 grams) and add ½ teaspoon sugar in a mixing bowl or in the stand mixer bowl. if using dry active yeast or fresh yeast, then check the recipe notes section of the recipe card above.
2. then add 1 cup water. mix well.
3. next add 3 cups whole wheat flour and 1 teaspoon salt.
4. add 3 tablespoons olive oil. if you do not have olive oil, use any neutral flavoured oil
5. now add 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
6. attach the bowl to a stand mixer with the hook attachment. on a medium-high speed knead the dough. if kneading with hands, then mix everything very well and then knead for at least 8 to 10 minutes.
7. the dough should be smooth, pliable and soft. if the dough looks dry, then you can add some water while kneading. if the dough looks sticky, then you can sprinkle some flour. depending on the quality of flour, you will need to add less or more water.
8. spread some water all over the dough.
9. cover with a lid or a kitchen towel and allow to leaven till the dough increases in volume and doubles up. i kept for 1 hour 45 minutes as its cold here. that too i kept the bowl in the sun, which is not very strong in the winters. in a warm temperature, you can easily keep for 45 minutes to 1 hour. if using dry active yeast, then keep for 2 hours to 3 hours (depends on the temperature conditions in your city).
10. the pizza dough will nicely increase in volume and double up.
11. here is a look at the texture. it should be stringy with tiny air pockets.
12. knead the dough lightly again and then you can directly make pizzas from these. or you can keep them covered in a tight box or pan. spread some olive oil all over the dough before placing them in the box.
making margherita pizza
13. grease a 9 inch pan or tray with some extra virgin olive oil. sprinkle some flour all over. you can even use cornmeal or semolina for sprinkling. preheat oven to its maximum temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before baking. my oven has 250 degrees celsius as the highest temperature.
14. take a medium to large ball and sprinkle some flour on the dough.
15. roll to a thin pizza having 0.3 to 0.5 cm thickness.
16. carefully lift and place the pizza in the greased baking pan or tray.
17. spread pizza sauce or passata. i have used homemade pizza sauce.
18. add some grated vegetarian parmesan cheese. if you do not have parmesan cheese, then skip this step.
19. now top with mozzarella cheese or pizza cheese.
20. keep the pizza pan on the lower rack near the bottom heating element in the preheated oven. this helps the margherita pizza to get a nice crisp and crusty base. only use the bottom heating element in the oven. also keep your oven’s highest temperature. my oven has 250 degrees celsius as the highest. you can also keep the pizza pan in the centre rack.
21. bake margherita pizza for 10 to 15 minutes till the base gets golden and the cheese also melts and gets golden.
22. top margherita pizza with some torn fresh basil leaves. you can also add dried oregano or red chili flakes if you want. you can also drizzle some extra virgin olive on the margherita pizza before serving.
23. cut with a pizza cutter or knife and serve margherita pizza. for more delicious pizza recipes you can check this collection of 10 pizza varieties.
dasana, I love your site , your recipes and the images are lovely. I am a very average cook but with your simple recipes what I cook actually tastes good. Thank you so much. wishing you the very best and keep posting such great content.
between am a photographer too , but I shoot mostly weddings. pls feel free to go thru the same .
thanks sharmila for this lovely comment. i saw your website and amazing photos. wish you all the best in your work. i have removed your link from the comment (due to spam related issues) and added in the url field. it will get linked to your name in the comment.
Hi Dassna, thank you for the amazing content on this site. I do most of my cooking after referring it here. Thanks a million for such meticulous posts. I wanted to know that if I am baking pizza in a microwave oven at 200 deg then for how long do we have to bake it there?
thanks preeti. glad to know the blog is helping you. in a microwave oven, due to the convection mode the baking is faster. so just bake till the cheese melts. also in a microwave oven in convection mode, use a metal pan or a pizza stone as it will help in getting the base crisp and golden. don’t keep the pizza directly on the glass of the microwave oven as then it will brown and remain soft. in case the cheese has melted and the base is not golden, then keep for some more minutes till the base gets crisp and golden. the cheese will brown by this time.
Gud…enough
hey I love all your recipes and tried alot of them with a successful outcome ..actually I have an issue my oven was kinda old so that’s y I had sold it will be buying in fut bt I love pizza nd I had tried it on tawa which was not good so plz suggest something ..
vidhi, you can use any pizza dough recipe and prepare it on tawa. for a no yeast version you can check this tawa recipe – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/tawa-pizza-recipe-no-yeast-pizza/
for an yeasted pizza dough, you can check this recipe – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/veg-pizza-recipe-vegetable-pizza/
follow the same method of cooking on tawa as mentioned in the tawa pizza recipe
Hi
Can u pls add some recipes of tacos ?
juhi, will in some time. have got recipe requests for tacos.
Beetroot kurma recipe plz
taken a note of your recipe request.
Hi
I am regular reader of ur recipes n follow them many a times
Actually m having one issue I use Sunflame cooking range, my problem is whenever I bake a cake it bakes well from d bottom comes out soft n spongy but it’s upper layer doesn’t gets brown it remains white or sticky it doesn’t hav any grill on the top in d oven section
How can I make my cake brown from the top as well
okay. thats the reason the cake does not come brown. what you can do is keep a cake pan or tray on the top rack above the cake. e.g. if you are keeping the cake in the middle rack, keep the pan on the top rack above it. it should be placed just on top of the cake. the cake pan will behave like a conductor of heat and so there will be some browning from the top. i hope there is enough space in the oven for you to do this. or else you can try covering the pan with an aluminium foil or a baking lid and see if the top gets browned.
my oven has 900w as highest..is it -ok if I keep on this temp?
sakshi, 900 watt is the rate at which electric energy is dissipated in the oven. its is not the temperature at which baking is done. temperature is an altogether different unit and one which is used to measure heat. for e.g. the OTG i have has 2000 watts but the temperature in which baking is done is completely different. the unit to calculate temperature is celsius or fahrenheit. in any oven the temperature ranges from 0 degree celsius to 200 or 250 or 300 degrees celsius.
looks like you have a microwave oven. if there is convection mode option in your oven, then you can use 200 degrees celsius. most microwave ovens have maximum temperatures till 200 degrees celsius. this pizza cannot be made in the microwave mode. but can be baked only in the convection mode of a microwave oven.
Hi Dassana,
I am such a fan of your cooking. You really have God’s blessing. Whatever I have tried from your recipes have come out so great, except the leavening part of breads using yeast:-( Somehow I am not able to do that perfectly.. I have tried it in Delhi winters, so maybe the temp has something to do with it.. May God always keep up your enthusiasm and passion. Also your photos and step wise methods are life savers, Stay blessed and happy. I will also try this one.
thanks a lot shilpi for this encouraging comment.
for the leavening of bread dough, firstly use a good quality instant yeast or dry active yeast. most indian brands do not give good results. also during winters, the time taken for the first rise or second rise is more than during summers. so if you see that the dough has not doubled up, then keep it for some more time. in winters i usually keep the dough in the sun. do try this recipe also.